A group of polar bears have attacked a small town in Russia’s Far East. Witnesses insist one person was eaten alive – and have pictures of her picked-over remains. Meanwhile, more attacks are reported to have taken place.

A horrifying video was uploaded to Youtube in the RU zone by the user x25rus showing polar bears attacking people in a small town in Russia’s Chukotka Autonomous Region. The bears appeared to be living in abandoned houses and were roaming the town in small groups of five. At the end of August, the animals were chased away from the town, but not before local people had endured a living hell at the hands of the unwelcome guests.

This video shows a young woman, apparently drunk and on the point of relieving herself near an abandoned house. Suddenly, a bear attacks. Passersby shout to the girl to run away. Then they start throwing bottles at the bear in the hope of saving the girl’s life. It works – the bear runs off and leaves his victim alive, though badly injured.

According to Rosbalt, on August 19 a bear killed a man in the town, causing widespread fury. Local people hunted down and killed three bears found wandering the streets.

The bears first appeared in the locality in the middle of August and settled in an abandoned house which had once served as a pigsty. On August 19, a town-dweller, Stanislav Ettuvge, 32, was heading to work when he was suddenly attacked by a bear.

Townspeople shot dead and killed both the bear that had attacked Stanislav and the one that mauled the young woman, together with a bear cub. The remaining bears fled the town.